Editorial Note: The
following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may
also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology.
Comments are in parentheses.

Noam Chomsky Honored in Gaza for
his Support for the Palestinian People

Chomsky urges Palestinians to adhere to their rights

[ 22/10/2012 - 10:19 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Legendary US linguistics professor and political critic Noam Chomsky
called on the Palestinians to uphold their rights and never give up hope
to restore them despite all odds and colonial plots being hatched
against them.

Chomsky made his remarks on Sunday in a lecture he delivered on the
second day of the international conference on languages and literature
at the Islamic university in Gaza.

The American professor also stated that the western powers see the
Palestinians as people with no rights because the Palestinians do not
have resources or influence to give to them, so relying on such powers
to get their rights and liberate their land is useless.

He also hailed the Arab nations for revolting against their tyrants
and said their uprisings reflected their desire for freedom and
liberation from repressive regimes serving the interests of western
colonial powers at their expense.

Chomsky was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the Islamic
university in Gaza in appreciation of his positions in support of the
Palestinian cause.

In a related context, Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya met with US
professor Noam Chomsky in his cabinet office and talked with him about a
number of issues in the Palestinian arena.

Haneyya hailed Chomsky for his courageous positions in support of the
Palestinian people and their rights and honored him for his great
efforts.

Two Palestinian fighters killed in Israeli raid

[ 22/10/2012 - 10:13 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Two Palestinian resistance fighters were killed on Monday in the
Israeli aerial raid that targeted their position to the north of the
Gaza Strip, medical and resistance sources said.

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesman for the health ministry, said that
Abdulrahman Abu Jalala and Yasser Al-Tarabin were killed in the raid.

Medical sources said that five other citizens were wounded in the
raid that targeted a group of citizens near a school in the northern
Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanun.

The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said that one of its
Mujahideen was killed in the raid identifying him as Abdulrahman Abu
Jalala.

The Nasser Salahuddin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular
Resistance Committees, said that one of its field commanders, Yasser Al-Tarabin,
was killed in the same raid.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that a number of Palestinian
rockets fell in the western Negev and near Askalan without causing any
damage.

For its part, Quds Press said that the Palestinian resistance fired
mortar shells at the Israeli occupation forces that advanced into
eastern Beit Hanun.

Four citizens wounded in Israeli raid

[ 22/10/2012 - 10:00 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Four Palestinian citizens were wounded on Monday in an Israeli air
raid on Beit Lahia to the north of the Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry, said that
Israeli warplanes targeted a position for the Qassam Brigades in
northern Gaza injuring four citizens. He said that the casualties were
taken to hospital.

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) had advanced into the eastern area of
Beit Hanun, to the north of Gaza Strip, on Monday morning in 14 armored
vehicles.

Local sources told the PIC reporter that the soldiers bulldozed a
number of locations in the area as tanks and army choppers randomly
fired projectiles to provide cover for the raiding troops.

In an act violating international maritime law, Israeli naval
forces boarded a humanitarian aid ship, the SV Estelle, that was en
route to the Gaza Strip bringing humanitarian aid supplies including
musical instruments and building materials. These are among the
thousands of items still banned by Israeli forces from entering Gaza.

The SV Estelle, which bears the flag of Finland, was guided into the
Israeli port of Ashdod (formerly known as the Palestinian town Isdud
before the Israeli takeover and expulsion of the indigenous inhabitants
in 1948). The 30 passengers and crew, which include a former Canadian
parliament member and several former members of the Israeli military who
have since renounced the Israeli occupation of Palestine, have all been
taken into custody by the Israeli military.

Israeli Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement praising the Israeli navy
for intercepting the ship, saying that the aim of the humanitarian aid
activists was to 'delegitimize Israel', and claiming that 'there is no
humanitarian crisis in Gaza'.

The attack on the international aid
ship comes just days after a leaked document from the Israeli government
revealed that Israeli officials had calculated the amount of food
necessary to hold every Gazan man, woman and child to a 1200 calorie
'diet', and allowing just that amount of food to trickle into the
besieged coastal Strip. This kind of calorie count and collective
punishment of a population is a direct violation of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, to which Israel is a signatory.

In addition, just two
weeks ago the United Nations issued a report stating that the
humanitarian crisis in Gaza is so severe that the entire Strip will be
uninhabitable in less than 15 years. Currently, two thirds of the
population of Gaza depend on United Nations food aid for survival.

Imports and exports of goods and services to and from the Gaza Strip
were brought to a grinding halt in 2006 when Israel imposed its ground,
sea and air blockade of Gaza. The Israeli airforce had previously
bombarded and demolished the newly-constructed Gaza international
airport, and have since tightly controlled the airspace over Gaza. The
only air traffic allowed is the Israeli airforce missions to bombard the
residents of the Gaza Strip.

Eva Manly, the wife of former
Canadian legislator and ship passenger James Manly told the Associated
Press, "It's hard to imagine what threat one sailboat, loaded with
humanitarian supplies and a small number of people, could do to Israel's
military".

A spokesperson for the Hamas party in Gaza called the
Israeli seizure of the ship an act of piracy.

As Ship Approaches Gaza Shore, Israel To Attack Estelle Ship

Saturday October 20, 2012 00:39 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Canadian Boat To Gaza reported that they received a message
from the Finnish Foreign Department informing that Israel informed them
that its soldiers will board Estelle solidarity ship currently around
120 Nautical Miles away from the Gaza shore.

The Estelle ship is sailing under a Finnish flag; its crew was
informed that the army will board the ship in international waters, and
will tow the ship along with the activists to the Ashdod Port.

Activists on-board the ship said that if the Israeli army attacks them,
the attack will be another act of piracy and kidnapping to enforce the
illegal Israeli siege and blockade on the coastal region.

Irene
McInnis of the Canadian Boat to Gaza stated that the ship is challenging
the illegal and inhuman siege imposed on the coastal region, and added
that “the world should not be silent anymore”.

It is worth
mentioning that retired Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) is on board
the Estelle solidarity ship.

A recent tweet from the ship says;
"The crew reports that it is dark and still calm, but there are
unidentified boats moving around them. We wish for peace and justice",
the Ship to Gaza Sweden Ship to Gaza Sweden @ShiptoGazaSE said on its
twitter account.

Last Sunday, Israel issued a warning informing
Finland that its army will intercept and stop the Estelle solidarity
ship heading to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies.

IOF soldiers prevent farmers from harvesting their olive
crops

[ 22/10/2012 - 11:24 AM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)--

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) prevented a group of Palestinian
farmers from reaching their land in Orta village, south east of Nablus,
to harvest their olive crops, local sources said.

Eyewitnesses said that the farmers had obtained permits to reach
their fields near the segregation wall surrounding Etamar settlement,
yet the soldiers blocked their way and beat them up.

The farmers were also blocked yesterday from entering their fields
and were attacked by Jewish settlers.

The Nablus villages have been under constant attacks over the past
few days at the hands of Jewish settlers to block farmers from reaping
olives. The attacks included assaulting farmers, burning or damaging
their olive trees, and robbing the crops.

Settlement expansion in the northern Jordan valley

[ 21/10/2012 - 09:45 PM ]

NORTHERN JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)--

Residents of Ein al-Baid in the northern Jordan valley said that new
expansion work is being carried out in Makhoula which is built on their
land.

Local sources said that the settlers have started building new
structures to the west of the settlement after confiscating tracts of
land at an earlier stage.

The sources said that the settlement have been witnessing accelerated
construction activities lately, while at the same time Palestinian
residents are being harassed and forbidden from tending their fields
which lie near the settlement.

Farmers Attacked By Settlers And Soldiers In Nablus And
Hebron

Saturday October 20, 2012 04:38 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC &
Agencies

Dozens of Israeli settlers and soldiers attacked, Friday,
Palestinian farmers working on their lands in the southern West Bank
district of Hebron, and in Nablus, in the northern part of the West
Bank, several injuries were reported.

In Nablus, one woman
suffered various cuts and bruises after a group of extremist settlers
attacked her and her husband, and hurled stones at them.

Local
sources reported that the settlers came from the Yitzhar illegal
settlement, south of Nablus, and added that the settlers violently
attacked Mohammad Rashed Ghazal, 47, and his wife, Hanan Eghbariyya, 43.
Hanan was injured in the head and shoulders and was moved to a local
hospital.

Rashid said that as he and his wife went to their
orchard to pick their olive trees in Ein Mikhna area, close to the
Huwwara military roadblock, they found out that the settlers were
picking their olives; the settlers then attacked them while the army did
not intervene.

In Ithna town, near Hebron, five Palestinians,
including four family members, were injured after Israeli soldiers
attacked them as they were picking olive trees in their orchard.

Medical sources reported that resident Mohammad Bashir Sleimiyya
suffocated after inhaling gas fired by the army at dozens of
Palestinians picking olives in Wad Reesha area, at the western entrance
of Ithna, west of Hebron.

Also, four members of the same family
were injured after being violently beaten by Israeli soldiers in the
same area.

It is worth mentioning that the army installed
several roadblocks in the Hebron district, stopped and interrogated
dozens of residents.

Army Opens Fire At Fishermen In Gaza

Friday October 19, 2012 22:15 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli occupation soldiers attacked , Friday, several Palestinian
fishing boats in As-Sudaniyy area and the coastal area west of Gaza
City.

Local sources said that the attack did not lead to damages
or injuries, but the fishermen were forced back to the shore after the
army prevented them from fishing. The army also opened fire at fishermen
west of Gaza.

On October 7, Israeli Naval Forces positioned off
Al-Waha resort northwest of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, and
arrested four fishermen while they were fishing 2.5 nautical miles off
the shore.

The army chased a fisherman Majed Fadel Baker (51),
who was sailing with his three sons Imran (27), Fadi (26), and Mohammad
Majed Baker (20).

Israel carries out repeated attacks against the
fishermen in Gaza, and issue that led to several casualties; the army
also confiscated several
fishing boats.

Israel reduced the area of fishing from 20
nautical miles, which was established upon in the agreements signed
between Palestinians and Israel, to 6 nautical miles in 2008, but the
Israeli navy continued to prevent fishermen from going beyond 3 nautical
miles since 2009.

As a result, fishermen are prevented from
reaching areas beyond that distance where fish is abundant. Sometimes,
Israeli forces also chase fishermen within the 3 nautical mile area.
Consequently, Palestinian fishermen have lost 85% of their source of
income, because of the limiting the fishing area.

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